Screams pierced the Saturday evening air, causing Clay Griffin to briefly glance at his surroundings, ensuring his safety before returning to filling out the form in his hands. 

Clowns, a zombie baby and a man wielding a chainsaw circled nearby, but 22-year-old Griffin dutifully took time from an evening at Phobia Haunted Houses in far south Houston to register to vote before Monday’s voter registration deadline. 

“It’s become an important topic that’s being discussed between family, between friends, everyone is talking about it now,” Griffin said. “I feel like if I can make a change, I need to make it.”

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your voice, your vote

A Houston Landing guide to this November’s local elections, and why they matter.

by Houston Landing staff

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Griffin was 18 but did not vote in the 2020 presidential election. The prevalence of presidential politics in daily life this year and a final nudge from League of Women Voters of Houston volunteers tabling at the haunted house motivated him to get registered this year. He said he is excited to cast his first-ever vote for former president Donald Trump.

“My vote could be the vote that goes to the next president. That’s pretty cool,” Griffin said. 

Saturday’s event was part of a last-minute push by the League of Women Voters to register Harris County residents ahead of Monday’s deadline. Since the start of the month, the non-partisan organization has held at least 17 voter registration drives at various events around the county, including several college campuses, churches, a Houston Dash game Friday night and the Southern Smoke Festival at Discovery Green on Saturday.

“The reason people don’t vote or register is because people don’t ask them,” said Denise Rhew, one of two League of Women Voters volunteers at Phobia. “If we’re where they are, it makes it easier for them to do it.”

The registration drive comes as campaigning in Texas and around the country reaches a fever pitch. The presidential contest between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump will headline the Nov. 5 Election Day, but there are more than 250 state, county and municipal elections playing out down the ballot in Harris County.  

Countywide, voters are being asked to select a new district attorney and a new tax assessor-collector, as well as county commissioners and a county attorney. U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, D-Dallas, is challenging Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz’s bid for reelection. General elections for legislative and judicial races, from appellate judges all the way down to justices of the peace, also are on the local ballot. 

As of the end of Friday, there were 2,682,664 registered voters in Harris County. That accounts for about 153,000 registrations added since the end of 2022, according to the Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector’s Office.

Registering voters can be thankless work, Rhew said. Volunteers will spend hours at locations ranging from fried chicken joints to senior homes and usually only register a handful of people. The two volunteers at the haunted house registered five people over the course of an hour Saturday evening. 

“That’s three that wouldn’t have been registered if we hadn’t been here,” Rhew said.

People who are not registered to vote often tell her they do not know enough about the candidates to vote, but Rhew said that is a bad reason to be afraid to register to vote.

“You can be undecided, but you can’t vote if you aren’t registered,” Rhew said. “I do think people tell us they are registered just to get us to leave them alone.”

Like Griffin, 22-year-old Fernando Zavala was eligible to vote in 2020, but he said life in the depths of the COVID-19 pandemic was too chaotic for him to pay attention to politics. Now, four years later, Zavala said things have resumed a sense of normalcy and he has matured, leading him to pay attention to issues, such as the economy. 

“I feel like my vote can actually mean something now,” Zavala said. “We’re going through a lot of inflation now, and that affects all of us.” 

The League volunteers also helped a handful of people unsure of their registration status to check it against the voter roll. Shane Newman, 60, said he has not voted consistently, but feels motivated to cast a ballot after having his first child later in life. 

“At times I wasn’t always being a good citizen, but I’m at a point in my life where I need to be better at what I do and, hopefully, make change,” Newman said. “I have a daughter now, and in the near future may have a grandchild. I want the best for the future.”

If you don’t run into a League of Women Voters volunteer on Monday, registration applications can be filled out online and then printed, or printed blank and filled out. Registration applications are available in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese.

The Harris County Tax Assessor-Collector’s office offers registration assistance in English, Spanish, Vietnamese and Chinese by calling 713-274-VOTE (8683).

Mailed applications must be postmarked by the end of the day to be considered on time.

You also can submit your application in person at any Harris County Tax Office location between 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. 

You can find a map of tax offices at the bottom of the Tax Assessor’s website homepage. 

If you previously registered and want to make sure you still are registered, you can visit the Texas Secretary of State’s Am I registered? portal.
For more information on voter registration, important election deadlines and candidates vying for local office, visit the Landing’s 2024 election guide.

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